The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1887-05-03
Qm 0ntdliQettrer,
Once. Nos. 40 and 81 Fourteenth Street.
THE KNIGHTS AND TIE 7CHUnCu.

Once, Nos. 10 and 81 Fourteenth Street.
THE KNIGHTS AND THE CHURCH.
Cardinal MannlnE's Exposition of nm I'm.
portant Question.
Saturdays Catholic Tablet contains the
following article by Cardinal Manning on
the relation Of the Knights OF Labor to
the church.
Some p~erplcxity may arise from the fact
that the Knights OF Labor were condemn.
ed and deprived OF the sacraments by the
Archbishops and Bishops Of Canada, but
now have been recognized and restored on
the petition Of ton out. OF twelve OF the
ArchbiRhops and with sons exceptions Of
the Bishops OF the United States, by the
Holy See. The solution OF this apparent
diversity Is ready ut hand. lii its first for.
nation tho Association OF the knights OF
Labor had more or lets the marks OF a
secret soeioty, and as such felt reasonably
under the censure Of the Bishop Of Cana.
da. Since that time the President OF The
Knights Of Labor has been changed. He
is, 90 Cardinal Gibbons '%attests, a faithful
Catholic, aud the organization has under.
gone revision In all thoss points which OF.
posed It to cansure. Cardinal Gibbons
attirms: g s'E IIf-'
~ That In Its constitution and laws
there Is nothing which Ia condemned by
the Holy See; l2) that there is no oath
(3) that there ia no obligation to secrecy
towards competent ecclesiastical author.
ity, even outside the confessional; az that
there Is no promiae OF blind obedience.
and no obligation beyond the distinctly de.
clared objecIa Of the association; and.
finally, that there is no hostility either
against the Church or against the State.
To this muat be- added that a very large
proportion Of the Knights OF Labor are
faithful, practicing Catholics. aIF
II is upon these grounds that the CEN.
sure passed upon 1t In Its old and cepeur.
able form has been withdrawn, The Oar.
dinal Of Baltimore in his letter to Cardi.
nal simeoni urges, with great force and
wisdom, the necessity which bids the
Catholic Church not only to DO a mother
but o friend and guide to the millIons
who live by the labor Of their hands,
As a whole, the text Of this weiphty
document is we'll known. We will there.
fore go on to justify the principles upon
which 1t is founded and In doing 40 wa
will consider what are the knights OF
Labor and what are the rights of lawful
organization. In the canon law slavery ia
defined as a state sanctioned by the law
OF nations but contrary to the law Of ma.
ture. Much confusion has existed upon
this point. By the law Of nature no man
can be sold and'no man can cell himself.
and no man can buy man or hold prop.
erty In man. Slavery under the jewish
law consisted in the sale and purchase nj
the labor Of man, not Of man himself. and
whatever the law Of nations in Christen.
dom may have held and taught, Christian
law has never sanctioned q violation of
the natural law that man cannot hold
property in man. Slavery under the
Roman Empire was q violation Of the law
OF nature. serfdom in C%hristendom WA
founded upon Christian and canon law.
Neither slavery OF serfdom exist any
longer.
In the English speaking peoples world
that is, in the'new world which eeama
to be the molding ofour iuture-s working
man is a free man both in his person and
In the labor Of his hand. The mere mns. !
cular labor Of his arm is his " to sejl ~ I
ne Wills to Whomsoever he wills, or |
wherever and for Whatsoever time he
Wills, and ct whatsoever price he can, II
his labor be skilled labor, or even half I
skilled labor, it is all the more valuable '
and absolutely his WI possession. It, in
truth, is the most precious form OF capital
which gold and silver may purchase, but
on which gold and silver must absolutely
depend. Money is but dead capital after {
all, but the live capital Of human intelli. !
gence and the human hand ia the prime. |
val and vital capital Of the world. Unless
these rights Of labor can be denied the
liberty OF organization 10 protect these
rights and the freedom founded on them |
cannot be denied this association. !
Labor, in its various kinds, Is tracesble
in the Greek, Roman and Christian civil.
zations Of the work. Cavalieredi Rossi, in |
his work on the inscriptions in the Muse.
um Of st. John Lateran, has pointed out
many examples Of these associations and
this traditional practice passed into Chris
tan law and exists in Rome down to this
day. In the church Of Santa Maria dell
'Orto every. chapel belongs to, and Is
maintained by, some college or university
OF the various trades. 1t may be truly|
said that the labor and industry Of the
Christian world have always organized
themselves for mutual improvement and
defense. Craft guilds and the firth guilds
Of the Scandinavian and Saxon races
sowed the first seeds, not only of our own
great commercial prosperity, but even of
our own municipal towns. Graft guilds
at first contained both master and work
man = whan montorc hnoo-a no1skl:l~
they formed guilds Of their own, and the
workmen, for mutual protection, united
themselves. The live capital and the dead
capital stood face to face often in antago-
nism, but always in the end reconciled
either by wise arbitration or by wise and
just laws.
It is q notable fact in our English his.
tory that these guilds, with which the i'm
perial laws Of the Continent dealt so op-
pressively, were always recognized, incor-
porated, and chartered by laws approved
by the Kings Of England. It weuld aeem
as If the temperate, li~berty.loving and
law-abiding spirit Of our race, so long as
equal laws prevailed, rendered all such
organizations innocent, safe, and fruitful
to the public welfare. It must not be for
gotten that our most ancient cities were
formed by ag~gregations Of crafts and
guilds; we still poaseas the statutes to such
guilds dating from the eleventh century.
There are twelve guilds in Normandy,
twelve in Kings Lynn, nine in Bishops
Lynn, Canterbury had three, Andover had
guilds and a guildhall, York had three,
and Beverly had four, but in London
there were seventy. London Ia believed
to have been the birthplace Of guilds, and
tho Constitution Of London was based
upon a guild and served as a model
for other English towns. According
to the Judicia Oivitates Lundonii, in the
time OF King Athelstane the firth guilds
Of London united into one guild, which
governed the town and gave laws not only
to members but to non.members living
in the city. The liveries or companies Of
the City Of London are seventy.four, and